Replay features next-generation genomic medicine technologies in its portfolio to address the needs of diseases that have large unmet needs.
Genome writing company Replay has launched operations with $55 million in seed financing, mainly from OMX Ventures and KKR.
Replay features next-generation genomic medicine technologies in its portfolio to address the needs of diseases that have large unmet needs. It also aims to create solutions to increase payload capacity and off-the-shelf cell therapies that will improve production volume, speed and consistency, reduce costs and expand opportunities for genome engineering.
Some of the genomic medicine platforms that Replay is working on include uCell, a universal, renewable, genomically rewritten iPSC-derived cell source for regenerative medicine and cell therapy; synHSV, a high-payload-capacity HSV vector that can deliver as much as 30 times the AAV payload; and DropSynth, a genome writing platform that enables the low-cost and rapid synthesis of big DNA and libraries of synthetic genes. Its fourth platform, LASR, offers an inference algorithm that can rewrite proteins to achieve optimal functionality.
Replay takes pride in its unique corporate structure, which keeps the therapeutic product development and technology development units separate. The company has set up four synHSV companies to bring key DNA treatments to monogenic disorders affecting the brain, muscle, eye and skin.
“Genomic medicine has the potential to transform the future of clinical therapeutics. Over my three decades of experience working in clinical medicine, academia, and the biopharmaceutical industry, it has become clear that we require a more robust and comprehensive toolkit of molecular genetic platform technologies to solve biology’s most complex problems and realize its full therapeutic potential,” Adrian Woolfson, B.M., B.Ch., Ph.D., the executive chairman, president and co-founder of Replay, commented in a statement.
Replay was co-founded by Woolfson, Lachlan MacKinnon, and Ron Weiss, Ph.D. MacKinnon is a founding team member at Oxford Science Enterprises and a founding investor in ONI, OMass Therapeutics and Base Genomics, while Weiss is a professor of biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before Replay, Woolfson was the executive vice president, head of research and development at Sangamo Therapeutics, and chief medical officer at Nouscom.
“Replay’s mission is to create a world-leading company that develops and owns the tools to reprogram biology by writing and delivering big DNA; we believe these capabilities will unlock the largest untapped opportunity in medicine. Replay has tremendous entrepreneurial experience within the Company, as well as a team of seasoned industry players to guide the development of the platform technologies and product companies to bring new treatments to patients,” Kugan Sathiyanandarajah, the managing director at KKR who also had a board seat at Replay said.
The other companies that invested in the seed funding are ARTIS Ventures, Lansdowne Partners, SALT, Axial and DeciBio Ventures. KKR is investing through the KKR Health Care Strategic Growth Fund II, which focuses on high-growth health care firms. Replay’s headquarters are San Diego, California and London, United Kingdom.
